Chapters 1 & 2 Summary

The main character, a small, wispy bird-like girl named Miranda, is picked up by Wysteria Barrows, a woman who lives in a large mansion known as Bourne manner. She did not care where the bird had come from but only that she stay with her on Lake Champlain. Miranda came to Bourne manner in February, after being knocked hard by a gust of wind, tangled in an elm, remembering only faceless relatives before she was removed by two of Wysteria's dogs. Miranda finds Bourne Manor enormous, four stories high with two balconies. It had twenty-two rooms. She had a grand room all to herself. But it was lonely, set apart from many other houses. Some said it was cursed, as it was built from ill-gotten riches generations before. The Manor invited lost spirits, including Miranda.